Stillorgan & Dundrum Families to See Childcare Relief with New Fee Caps

Stillorgan & Dundrum Families to See Childcare Relief with New Fee Caps

Families across Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are set to see a hard cap placed on early learning and childcare fees starting this September, a move welcomed by local Fine Gael Councillor Eoin O’Driscoll.

The upcoming measures mean that roughly 12% of childcare providers will be legally required to reduce at least one of their fees to meet the new maximum limits. For the majority of local parents, the existing fee freeze—first introduced in 2022—will remain firmly in place, keeping fees stable.

“Childcare is often the single biggest monthly bill landing on a kitchen table, and it places massive pressure on families in Stillorgan, Cabinteely, Dundrum, and across the county” Cllr O’Driscoll said.

“At its core, a strong society is built from the ground up, starting with the family. When we talk about supporting families in our community, this is what it looks like in practice. Lowering these fees means giving parents—especially those with young children—the flexibility and autonomy to balance their careers with family life, without being priced out of their own neighbourhoods. It’s about empowering families to make the choices that are best for them, rather than having those choices dictated by financial strain.”

The changes are backed by a €90 million national increase in Core Funding for early years providers, bringing the total budget to €480 million. Cllr O’Driscoll emphasised that this model reflects a core commitment to supporting local, independent services.

“True public service means supporting institutions at the level closest to the community. Our local providers and educators—many of them small, independent, or community-led services—have done an incredible job maintaining high-quality care under tight financial pressures.

“Instead of a top-down, state-run bureaucracy, this funding boost respects and sustains our existing local childcare ecosystem. It will help lower costs for parents while protecting the independence and viability of our local creches and preschools.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Appendix

Table 1: Core Funding Fee Caps

Fee Band	Hours per week	Maximum weekly fee for New Partner Services in 2024/2025	Maximum weekly fee for Partner Services in 2025/2026	Maximum weekly fee for Partner Services in 2026/2027
Band A	Less than 10 hours	€65	€59	€56
Band B	Between 10 hours and 19 hours 59 minutes	€130	€118	€112
Band C	Between 20 hours and 29 hours 59 minutes	€195	€177	€168
Band D	Between 30 hours and 39 hours 59 minutes	€260	€236	€224
Band E	Between 40 hours and 49 hours 59 minutes	€325	€295	€280
Band F	50 or more hours	€390	€354	€336

Table 2: Core Funding Base Rates

Prior to Core Funding there was no comparable scheme/s that was underpinned by the ‘staffed capacity’ principle which is fundamental to the Core Funding scheme. Set out below is the aggregate monthly base rate per child place offered (on a full time, part time and school age basis), which varies by age. This excludes funding for graduate premiums and the Staffing Funding Additional Contribution, as well as the targeted measures.

Age range	Core Funding monthly base rate payment by the state per child prior to Core Funding (2021/2023)	Core Funding monthly base rate payment by the state per child in Year 1 (2022/2023)	Core Funding monthly base rate payment by the state per child in Year 5 (2026/2027)	Percentage change  in monthly base rate between Year 1 and Year 5
Full-time service (45 hours per week,)
0 to 1 years	€0.00	€323.70	€391.95	21%
1 to 2 years	€0.00	€208.65	€274.95	32%
2 to 3 years	€0.00	€179.40	€239.85	34%
3 to 6 years	€0.00	€132.60	€173.55	31%
Part-time service (20 hours per week,)
0 to 1 years	€0.00	€143.87	€174.20	21%
1 to 2 years	€0.00	€92.73	€122.20	32%
2 to 3 years	€0.00	€79.73	€106.60	34%
3 to 6 years	€0.00	€58.93	€77.13	31%
Sessional (15 hours per week,
0 to 1 years	€0.00	€78.85	€95.48	21%
1 to 2.5 years	€0.00	€50.83	€66.98	32%
2.5 to 6 years	€0.00	€30.88	€40.38	31%
School-age (Term Time: 20 hours per week,)
4 to 15 years	€0.00	€34.83	€39.27	13%
School-age (Out of Term: 40 hours per week,)
4 to 15 years	€0.00	€18.33	€20.67	13%

Table 3: Year 5 targeted measures in 2026/2027

Targeted Measure	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Flat rate top up for sessional-only	–	€4,075	€5,000	€5,000	€5,000
Minimum allocation	–	€8,150	€14,000	€14,400	€14,400
Maximum allocation	–	€600,000	€500,000	€450,000	€450,000

Ring-fenced funding to support improvements in staff pay

For 2025/2026, the Department €45 million in a full year, to support employers to meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay in the sector.

This facilitated the development of a new funding element – the Staff Funding Additional Contribution (SFAC) to centre-based services. This measure was designed to support Core Funding Partner Services to meet the the costs of increasing rates of pay because of new Employment Regulation Orders negotiated by the Joint Labour Committee.

For Programme Year 5, an additional funding allocation – up to a maximum of €45 million – has been secured to support further Employment Regulations Orders from September 2026/2027, contingent on negotiations by the independent Joint Labour Committee. A second grant will be designed to distribute the new funding. The calculation of the new rates will include Graduate Lead Educator hours.